Want something? Then talk to my right ear

London, June 24 (IANS) Humans prefer to be addressed in their right ear rather than their left. Current research suggests that we are more likely to perform a task when we receive the request in our right ear. Dr. Luca Tommasi and Daniele Marzoli from the University “Gabriele d’Annunzio” in Italy examined ear preference in communication between humans. Their research which included a series of three studies revealed a natural side bias, depending on hemispheric asymmetry in the brain, which manifested itself in everyday human behaviour.

The right ear is known to be dominant for listening to verbal stimuli, which is believed to reflect the brain’s left hemisphere superiority for processing verbal information. This is one of the most well known asymmetries in humans.

All the three studies showed a right ear/left hemisphere advantage for verbal communication and distinctive specialization of the two halves of the brain for approach and avoidance behaviour.

The authors concluded that “our studies corroborate the idea of a common ancestry - in humans and other species - of lateralized behaviour during social interactions, not only for species-specific vocal communication, but also for effective responses.”